When the Rain Comes...
When the rain comes it seems that everyone has gone away
When the night falls you wonder if you shouldn't find someplace
To run and hide / Escape the pain
But hiding's such a lonely thing to do
I can't stop the rain / From falling down on you again
I can't stop the rain / But I will hold you 'til it goes away
When the rain comes you blame it on the things that you have done
When the storm fades you know that rain must fall on everyone
Rest awhile / it'll be alright
No one loves you like I do
When the rain comes / I will hold you
~Third Day
So I’m sitting inside and there’s a pretty decent storm outside and it made me think of the song When the Rain Comes by Third Day. I don’t know of anyone who at some point in there life hasn’t had some sort of a storm. Spiritually I’ve had a rough one over the last six or so months. Most of it I brought on myself. But I think storms have to come, and that they are good for us. Paul writes in Romans 5:3-5 that
3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. 4And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. 5And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.I’ve had storms in the past and each time they’ve left me running again from God and religion. This has happened 2 or 3 times over the last 10 or 12 years. I start to turn to God, a storm hits, I run. But this one has been different. Maybe it’s because I’m to blame for it. Maybe it’s because I no longer want to run. Or maybe it’s because this was the point at which God said no more. Looking back over the last year, He’s done a lot to put me in a situation where if I did fall things would be different. I’m now part of a close community of good, spiritual men on campus. I have the opportunity through CSF to actively serve God on campus. And with CSF come Todd and Gretchen, to awesome spiritual leaders in my life. The net was always there. None of these things I had in previous storms.
With the storm starting to move into the distance, I realize now God has me and for whatever reason refuses to let me go. I love this. When I started to turn back towards God a year ago I was always afraid I might turn back, I might run again. But even if I waver God doesn’t and HE HAS ME! I think that deserves a W00T! I look forward to a semester of growth and maybe even a little peace… the calm after the storm perhaps.
posted by Hal Waggoner Jr. @ 7:48 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
hi this is timothy from kenya. i am also a student like you and i am twenty years old. it is lovely to hear someone speaking so unashamedly about the lord in this day and age. you are obviously blessed by the lord.in fact i can feel your joy radiating through my computer screen( don't mind my sense of humor-if you are like duh, a joke is supposed to make you laugh, just know that i have a unique perspective of it)
nways, i am digressing... i really like the way you express yourself and thanks a lot for sharing your days with us , it gives me inspiration that all of us face problems as christians and it is only through complete faith in the lord that we will sail through
otherwise, i am just cool here in kenya( its in africa), i will be going to the maasai mara in two days' time. it is a big game park where you can watch the big five- elephant, buffallo, lion, leopard and rhino. in fact it is the only place in the world where wilderbeest perform an ancient migration from the serengeti park every june where many fall prey to the crocodile-infested mara river which they have to cross.
i have grown up in Kenya all my life and have a lot of stories to tell about our life, our diverse culture, the christian community and all that
my family is catholic but i changed to a charismatic church after getting saved. i have no qualms with them though. here in africa, the youth are really encouraged to respect their parents and the wisdom of others older than them. so sometimes life can be showered with sulphur and brimstone if one decides to change faith. luckily, that did not happen to me. my parents were very understanding.
what else can i say? oh, yes-my home. it is set on the edge of the rift valley and one can view a beautiful lake and if you have binoculars,then a herd of elephants will be your treat.
my parents are peasant farmers but have managed to educate all of us without borrowing money from anyone. they are seven of us children,the three eldest are already living on their own. i am the second-last and the last-born is in second-year, high school.
we have a comfortable home, not elegant as in for the rich, but i still view it to be the best and will not change it for all the world.
my mother is an expert gardener, a natural gift, so being at our home is like being in a botanical garden with countless birds singing all over. we have a kitchen garden with the veggies and all, and we also grow maize, bean, millet and sorghum in our small farm. we also keep grade cows for milk and we recently added to our stock two sheep
we have two watch-dogs( my folk don't consider them pets), they are still puppies but are growing up to be fierce barkers and biters. i hope it should never happen to the unlucky crook to stumble into our compound!we also have cats-about ten of them- and they give birth like an ATM machine dishing out cash. my father threatens to take them away but the little angels are so cute that it seems treason to give them away
food: we eat ugali( a maize cake of some sort),mursik(fermented milk treated with herbs) is also lovely, we also take chapatis, rice, bread, pilau, omena, irio, githeri,mandazi, chai, teliat, mukimo,mutura-i will tell you all about them as we get along.
we speak Swahili and Keiyo at home, but in the university i read in English. Swahili and English are the national languages while Keiyo is my mother-tongue.
well so much about me. i would like to know more about you and your life in america.God bless!
mdkims@gmail.com
He will never let you go, Hal. No matter what we are feeling, God will always be waiting, right HERE, for us to fall into Him. That's why it is so important for us to persevere during the storms of life and during the clear skies... Even though it can be very hard sometimes, we have to remember that our Lord is unchanging. He loves us fiercely and is ridiculously faithful in that. Furthermore, we can REJOICE in our times of weakness! Take a look at Paul, in his time of difficulty--
"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Great to know that we don't have to rely on ourselves or other people to find the love and peace that we need. No matter what, God loves us and will never, ever leave us--
"never will I leave you, never will I forsake you..."
so we say with confidence---
"the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid..."
Hebrews 13:5b, 6
love you man
have a great day
-Dave
w00t was my idea, but it's already been taken.
But I still wanna give a GLORY to everything that's been said on this post and all the comments. Amazing stuff, and I can't wait...and that's an understatement...I am super super pumped about what God's preparing us for this year. He's gonna do some pretty rocking things, and I can't believe we get to be a part of it, and I'm so glad that we get to do it all together, all unified as the part of His Body that He's placed here in Springfield and UIS.
Love you bro!
Erin
i don't know who you are, and i came across this blog quite by accident.
nonetheless, i can relate to what you're going through.
i hope that you are, everyday, experiencing a new facet of god's personality.
it's an amazing thing.
bless you.
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